inventadovsinventanWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“inventado” and “inventan” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#10,011
“inventado” frequency rank
#21,034
“inventan” frequency rank
31045
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature inventado inventan
Definition Participio de inventar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de inventar.

Where the eye mixes inventado and inventan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

9 ch
inventado
8 ch
inventan

Why the eye confuses inventado with inventan

A purely visual mix-up. inventado ([ĩmbẽn̪ˈt̪að̞o]) and inventan ([ĩmˈbẽn̪t̪ãn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31045, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

inventado is recorded at frequency rank #10,011, classified as averb, pronounced [ĩmbẽn̪ˈt̪að̞o]. inventan is at rank #21,034, tagged as averb, pronounced [ĩmˈbẽn̪t̪ãn].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 31045, this pair ranks #209,076 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of inventado vs inventan

Shared letters: aeintv. Private to "inventado": do. Private to "inventan": -.

"inventado" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCV  ·  "inventan" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • inventadoinbentado · inevntado · innventado · invenatdo · invenntado · inventaddo · inventaod · inventdao
  • inventaninbentan · inevntan · innventan · invenatn · invenntan · inventann · inventna · inventtan

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "inventado" for "inventan" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ĩmbẽn̪ˈt̪að̞o] versus [ĩmˈbẽn̪t̪ãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "inventado" or "inventan" show up more?
"inventado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,011 in our Spanish list, against #21,034 for "inventan". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "inventado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "inventan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #209,076 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "inventado" and "inventan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "inventan vs inventen". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #209,076 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list